THE Games

•16 — days from opening to closing ceremony.

•302— sport events

•21,600— accredited journalists

•10,500 — athletes

•100,000— official Olympic and Paralympic volunteers

•400,000 — city volunteers to provide tourist services, bolster security

•1,000,000 — social volunteers at community level

•16,000 — athletes and officials in the Olympic Village

•91,000 — seats in the “Bird’s Nest” National Olympic stadium

•31 — venues in Beijing

•6 — venues outside Beijing (Hong Kong, Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao)

•7,000,000 — tickets sold for the Games

•5,000 Yuan — cost of opening ceremony seat ($661.4)

•30 Yuan — general admission for softball preliminaries ($3.97)

•24.9 Celsius — average temperature in Beijing in August

•159.7 mm — average rainfall in Beijing in August

THE City

•16,330,000 — permanent residents of the city (2007)

•2,500,000 — expected visitors to Beijing during Games

•120 bn Yuan — investment in environmental improvement from 1998 to 2006 ($15.87 billion)

•246 — “blue sky days” in 2007

•256 — “blue sky days” targeted for 2008

•123 — “blue sky days” in first six months of 2008

•77,000 — cars in Beijing, 1978

•1,060 — extra cars hitting Beijing roads every day.